Thursday, August 30, 2012

Sometimes the most universal truths can
be found in the smallest slices of life. That’s what makes
independent documentaries so powerful, engaging, and entertaining.
Not only do they show you little worlds to which you’ve never had
access, but they oftentimes also tell the larger story of what it
means to be human. Armed with this intellectual conceit, a bag of
Funyuns, and a couple of Miller beers, Daniel Elkin curls up in front
of the TV and delves deep into the bowels of Netflix Streaming
Documentaries to find out a little bit more about all of us.

Today he and his friend Jason Sacks
found 2008's Anvil! The Story of Anvil by director Sacha
Gervasi.

Elkin: Sometimes you've got the
talent. Sometimes you've got the critical acclaim. Sometimes you've
got a loyal fan base. Sometimes you've got the heart and the drive
and the will to succeed.

Sometimes all this isn't enough.

Sometimes you still fail.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a
documentary (Rockumentary?) about the Canadian heavy metal band
Anvil, the band you've never heard of. The film starts with footage
from the 1984 Super Rock Festival in Japan which featured headliners
the likes of Scorpios, Whitesnake, and Bon Jovi – all of whom you
have heard of and all of whom have healthy bank accounts – the
other headlining band at that show was Anvil.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

In
these economic times, finding inexpensive entertainment is difficult.
Thank goodness for the local comic shop and a slew of comics nobody
cares about anymore! Each week Daniel Elkin randomly grabs a comic
from the bargain bin (for 50 cents) to see what kind of bang he can
get for his two-bits. These are those tales.

You
know, I'm beginning to think that either I'm one of the luckiest men
alive or the rest of you people have no fucking idea what you are
doing anymore. I base this solely on the fact that my random pick out
of the bargain bin this week was completely awesome and it only cost
me 50 cents.

So,
let's look at this for a minute.

I got to
have a whale of a time for just fifty cents. You can see how this
might make me think that I'm a really lucky fellow. So lucky, in
fact, that I have decided now to sell everything I own, hop the bus
to Reno, and amass a small fortune which I can then turn around and
reinvest in whatever the hell I want to because it is guaranteed to
make me a ton of money because I. Am. So. Fucking. Lucky!

The
other side of the coin is that I got to have a whale of a time for
just fifty cents because the rest of you people found The
Sea Ghost #1 to be of no
value as an entertainment commodity anymore and have cast it off into
the bowels of the bargain bin. What is wrong with you people? Have
you no soul anymore? Can't you just have fun for the sake of having
fun and then cherish that, hold on to it, value it for longer than
thirty fucking seconds?

Ultimately,
either of these options is a bit dangerous. The first one, if true,
is a bit grandiose and, if untrue, will lead me to ruin. The second
option is disheartening as hell and, if true, will start me glaring
at you again, won't it?

Maybe
there is a middle ground? Maybe I shouldn't worry so much about these
things? Maybe I should just enjoy the fact that I got to read The
Sea Ghost #1, do my little
dance of satisfaction, and then put it on my pile of things that I
know I can turn to on those sad days that will make me smile wide (a
pile, I should add, that is growing larger and larger all the time –
so suck it, Mr. Blues).

Friday, August 17, 2012

Keith Silva: Let's begin with secrets, shall we? Way down, down deep in sub-basements of sub-sub basements, behind ''infamously unbreakable'' triple-level locks, an atypical Joe finds a ''real as toenails'' key to the city, a key to King City. Joe thinks: ''If the key is real, what else could be?'' Joe's thought keys in on an essential metaphor that unlocks the essence of King City, a quid pro quo that establishes a reality where: cats are weapons sharper than ''a drug knife you can have sex with'' or a ''two-fisted chainsword,'' gives ''mustache studies'' its overdue advancement and finds that the flavor of victory is always sweet while divorce tastes bitter even when it's sipped through a grape licorice straw; King City imagines a place of limitless inspiration and creativity.

Creator Brandon Graham has built this King City to exist in a state (and with a style) of strategic hyper-spontaneity. Graham's story and art alike possess an "anything goes" aesthetic that fronts to look loose, a kind of constructed slouching indifference, all the while being simultaneously seamless, smart and put-together -- the Chuck D pose, sure assuredness. Locks, keys and hidden passageways abound in King City. Underground tunnels lead to secret networks, to places like ''Nowhere'' -- a sobriquet for a spy resupply station run by an old sasquatch (Lukashev) -- that's easy to find if you know where to look (hint: ''under the South Pipe freeway''). Why all the cloak-and-dagger, the games and the secrets? All rhetorical, I assure you, is nothing to fret about; puns for fun's sake. Locks are constructs like puzzles, barriers, literal gatekeepers designed to bar egress (ingress?) to a solution. A secret supposes a solution -- seek to find. Going deeper; King City is a gestalt, a tight construction of sly catches, hidden hinges and clandestine compartments that reveal a unified whole of soul, scruples and love.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

In these economic times, finding inexpensive entertainment is difficult. Thank goodness for the local comic shop and a slew of comics nobody cares about anymore! Each week Daniel Elkin randomly grabs a comic from the bargain bin (for 50 cents) to see what kind of bang he can get for his two-bits. These are those tales.

Sweet begeezus – First off, how do you do a comic book adaptation of a movie that was never made? I mean, what sort of parallel dimensions does this open up suddenly? It seems this would suck all rational thought right out the chute and into a tight leather outfit – BAM!

I'm talking May 1983's Americomics release of BLACK DIAMOND #1 – Sybil Danning is Tianna Mathews is Black Diamond created by Mike Frankovich, Jr. but written by Bill Black and Don Secrease. You got that? Seriously? It's a hell of a monkey barrel to ride over the falls, I'm telling you.

Sybil Danning? That hot blonde featured in films such as Battle Beyond the Stars, Chained Heat, Reform School Girls, and Howling II. In 1983 Sybil Danning was the woman that you pictured in your head when you thought about those kinds of women.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

This week in Classic Comics Cavalcade, Daniel Elkin and Jason Sacks welcome a very special guest: the legendary Don McGregor dropped (or Skyped) by to join our intrepid Cavalcaders for a special trip down Wakanda way to talk about Don's classic work on the recently-reprintedEssential Black Panther. Don was an absolute treat to talk to, and as you'll see in this really special conversation, Don is still just as passionate about this work as he was on the day it was created.

Elkin: You talk about the introduction of the home life, which really did add a whole other dimension to the character as well as it echoed the larger theme that was happening at the time. So it just struck me as being just right. It didn't strike me as being forced in any way or a nod to needing to have the character fit in with the whole overall thematic thing that was happening.

McGregor: I know. Jason, you wrote about this series and you write about how it feels like a 1970s book, but I don't know of any other 1970s book that was … it certainly wasn't emulating any other books that were around. Not better or worse. Whatever it was, it was its own identity.

Sacks: You know it does stand out as its own thing. There are so many elements that are so unique in that kind of post-underground, pre-corporate time frame that you were just discussing that really makes the book have a completely different feel. It's so much more timeless than a lot of the other stuff that you read from that era. So much of that comes from the energy and spirit and intensity that you bring to the stories.

McGregor: There are certain human elements that are timeless. Whether it's the relationship between couples or the relationship of what you owe society in terms of your personal life. Those elements are eternal.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

This week in Classic Comics Cavalcade, Daniel Elkin and Jason Sacks welcome a very special guest: the legendary Don McGregor dropped (or Skyped) by to join our intrepid Cavalcaders for a special trip down Wakanda way to talk about Don's classic work on the recently-reprinted Essential Black Panther. Don was an absolute treat to talk to, and as you'll see in this really special conversation, Don is still just as passionate about this work as he was on the day it was created.

Sacks: Okay, Well … I've read these stories I don't know how many times now and I'm always taken aback by a few things. One is the fact that the Panther goes through literal hell to get back home and fight this revolution. Everywhere he goes throughout Wakanda, he fights creatures and people and he's literally ripped to shreds in order to preserve his kingdom.

He really goes through a hero's journey, literally through blackness and into light again, in order to save Wakanda. I always just thought the character arc is just beautiful in this and the story arc is just extremely powerful in Jungle Action. I'm curious what Daniel thought as an educated teacher about that whole arc?

Elkin: I was struck by what you just said that the hero's journey aspect of it and how so much of what was happening in the physical world was reflected in his interior, but as well, through this whole thing, I was incredibly impressed with how you were able to blend those two things together so seamlessly.

McGregor: Well, thank you. “Panther’s Rage” truly was conceived as a hero’s journey. T’Challa wins the important battles that, obviously in less physically incredible ways, we all, as human beings face on some level. I appreciate that. My feeling about it was I wanted to make it as real as possible. The bad thing about the Essential being in black and white is that there was so much work done on the coloring, because color was so much a part of creating that ambiance of Wakanda and making it a special place.

Elkin: I notice in your narrative, you reference colors quite a bit so adding that juxtaposition to the black and white was a little disconcerting.

Monday, August 6, 2012

This week in Classic Comics Cavalcade, Daniel Elkin and Jason Sacks welcome a very special guest: the legendary Don McGregor dropped (or Skyped) by to join our intrepid Cavalcaders for a special trip down Wakanda way to talk about Don's classic work on the recently-reprintedEssential Black Panther. Don was an absolute treat to talk to, and as you'll see in this really special conversation, Don is still just as passionate about this work as he was on the day it was created.

Don McGregor:It's a bizarre kind of thing. You guys going to actually review Essential Black Panther and the creator is going to be there; that's kind of an unusual thing. Here's the first thing that you should be aware of. You guys read this stuff, I'm assuming, fairly recently, and the last time I would have read "Panther's Rage" was when I was writing "Panther's Prey," and I wouldn't have read all of it. What I would have done was, when I was coming up to a character, say for instance Monica Lynne, I would go and just read all of her scenes, so I would get her voice in my head and I would make sure I hadn't forgotten any of her background. And then the same thing if Taku was coming in, I would read all of Taku's scenes. So that as I was coming into his character, you know a lot of people say, "I want to get the voices out of my head," but for me as a storyteller you actually have to do that. Get the voices in your head, speaking in their voices, not yours.

Daniel Elkin:Hey Don, you mentioned Monica Lynne, I have sort of a strange question for you about her. The character's such an outsider in "Panther's Rage" would you say that she might be the narrative center of the whole story?

McGregor: I have so many wildly inappropriate comments that come to mind.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Sometimes the most universal truths can
be found in the smallest slices of life. That’s what makes
independent documentaries so powerful, engaging, and entertaining.
Not only do they show you little worlds to which you’ve never had
access, but they oftentimes also tell the larger story of what it
means to be human. Armed with this intellectual conceit, a bag of
Funyuns, and a couple of Miller beers, Daniel Elkin curls up in front
of the TV and delves deep into the bowels of Netflix Streaming
Documentaries to find out a little bit more about all of us.

Today he and his friend Jason Sacks
found 2011's The Pruitt-Igoe Myth by director Chad Freidrichs.

Elkin: The Pruitt-Igoe Myth
is a thoughtful, albeit dogmatically one-sided, documentary about
public housing, urban development, the role of government in social
engineering, racism, suburbanization, politics, hopes, dreams, and
failure.

The film focuses on the Pruitt-Igoe
public housing development in St. Louis, Missouri, a complex of
thirty-three eleven story buildings that were built in 1954 to great
fanfare and promise, which were then subsequently taken down twenty
years later, vandalized, crumbling, and crime-ridden. The film-makers
state that the downfall of Pruitt-Igoe has been mythologized over the
years to become the public face of the perceived failures of public
housing polices, the perceived failure of the welfare state, the
perceived failure of modern architectural design, and the perceived
failure of African-Americans in the 1970's. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth
seeks to debunk what it sees as the misconceptions of the causes of
Pruitt-Igoe's demise and draws attention to what it sees as the real
causes of its failure.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Terri Kirby Erickson is the award-winning author of three collections of poetry, including her latest book, In the Palms of Angels (Press 53), winner of a 2012 Nautilus Silver Award in Poetry and the Gold Medal for Poetry in the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the 2013 Poet’s Market, Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry, JAMA, The Christian Science Monitor, storySouth, and many other publications. She lives in North Carolina.